How to Enter Recovery Mode on Android Devices

Looking to access and enter recovery mode on your Android phone or tablet? Here is a detailed guide on how to do so. Covering all major brands, this detailed article will explain how to access recovery mode on Android phones. Since there are various hardware manufacturers present that ship Android devices, not all follow the same pattern for granting users access to the recovery partition. Further, if you have recently bought a phone from a different brand as compared to your previous device, chances are, older recovery access method would not apply.

Acting as a maintenance gateway for Android itself, as well as a backdoor to reset the system if its not functioning properly, all Android devices come with a recovery partition built-in. Since there are advanced scripts and functions present within the recovery mode, it is hidden from normal UI in order to avoid unnecessary access. Anyhow, if you are looking to access recovery mode on your phone or tablet, read ahead.

What is Recovery Mode on Android?

Recovery partition or recovery mode, as the name suggests, is a dedicated tool integrated within Android devices to perform miscellaneous maintenance / recovery tasks. These functions include the option to factory reset the device, flash system update files and also clear out various cache partitions. In short, you need this mode to fix your Android phone when a problem arises.

Further, if you observe, system updates that are downloaded within Android’s normal UI boot into recovery mode to apply themselves hence proving the partition’s fundamental role in Android’s overall functioning. To enter recovery mode, there are three main methods that you can use:

• By buttons combination
• By connecting to a computer with ADB
• By using BootDroid, an Android app (for rooted devices only)

Custom Recovery vs Stock Recovery: Difference

As Android is Open Source and developers have the opportunity to come out with their own custom ROMs, the recovery partition can also be modified. A custom recovery makes use of the same same recovery partition as the stock one, follows the exact same method for access but adds a plethora of additional features.

There’s a common question, after installing a custom recovery, does the procedure to access it change? Well, it does not! A custom recovery resides in the same partition as the stock one. And since the access procedures boot the phone into the recovery partition, they don’t change depending on which recovery you have running on your phone.

To read up more on how to install a custom recovery, check TWRP Recovery.

Method 1: Access Recovery Mode with Button Combinations

The most common method and certainly the most convenient for most, requires pressing a certain button combination while the phone is turned off. Again, as we previously discussed, due to different manufacturers, there isn’t a single universal combination because each brand have their own way — and some of them have completely removed any hardware buttons from the sides.

Anyhow, we have covered recovery mode procedures for a vast majority of Android manufacturers right ahead:

Google Pixel / Nexus Devices:

Samsung Galaxy Devices:

Samsung, unlike other brands, changed its recovery mode access procedure couple of times. Depending upon your device, implement the appropriate steps given ahead.

For Samsung Phones with Bixby Button:

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the following buttons for a few seconds, all at the same time: Power + Volume Up + Bixby button.

Step 3 – After a few seconds, you should see the blue screen with an Android bot and a message saying, “Installing system update” (don’t worry, nothing gets installed).

Step 4 – Then after about 10 seconds, another blue screen will show up for a few seconds that will have the big ‘!’ logo and will say, “No command” as shown below.

Step 5 – Next, you will be presented with the Recovery Mode menu on your Samsung Galaxy phone.

You can now navigate around the recovery mode using your volume and power buttons!

For Samsung Devices without Bixby Button:

Here are the instructions for Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets that do not have a dedicated Bixby button. Most of the budget and mid-range Samsung Android phones fall under this category.

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the following buttons for a few seconds, all at the same time: Power + Volume Up.

Step 3 – After a few seconds, you should see the blue screen with an Android bot and a message saying, “Installing system update” (don’t worry, nothing gets installed).

Step 4 – Then after about 10 seconds, another blue screen will show up for a few seconds that will have the big ‘!’ logo and will say, “No command” as shown below.

Step 5 – Next, you will be presented with the Recovery Mode menu on your Samsung Galaxy phone.

You can now navigate around the recovery mode using your volume and power buttons!

Xiaomi Mi / Redmi / POCO Devices

If you own a Poco, Redmi, Mi phone, follow these steps to gain access to the recovery partition.

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the following buttons for a few seconds, all at the same time: Power + Volume Up. Release when you see Mi logo.

Step 3 – From the resulting menu, tap on Recovery.

That’s it! You should now be in recovery mode on your Xiaomi phone / tablet.

Nokia Phones:

This is how you can enter and access the recovery mode on Nokia (HMD Global) phones.

Step 1 – Power down your Nokia phone by pressing and holding the power button.

Step 2 – Once it is powered off, connect the phone to your computer.

Step 3 – The Nokia phone will show you a Powered by Android image and then proceed to the battery animation.

Step 4 – Once you see the charging animation, hold the Volume Up button and Power button simultaneously.

Step 5 – A countdown would start telling you to “Please release key to power off..” . Ignore this message and keep holding the buttons.

Step 6 – After the countdown is finished, your phone would enter the recovery mode.

OnePlus Phones:

You can enter the recovery mode on OnePlus phones by following these instructions below:

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the following buttons for a few seconds, all at the same time: Power + Volume Down.

Step 3 – After a few seconds, you should see the Recovery Mode screen on your OnePlus phone.

Huawei Phones and Tablets:

Huawei owners can implement this procedure to enter recovery mode on their phones / tablets.

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the Volume Up button along with the Power Button for few seconds.

Step 3 –  You should let go of the power button as soon as the Huawei logo pops up. The phone should now boot into Recovery mode.

Sony Xperia Devices:

Sony Xperia devices utilize the following button combination to grant access to recovery mode.

Step 1 – You smartphone should be completely turned off by pressing and holding the power key or by selecting power off form the popup menu.

Step 2 – Press and Hold the Volume Up and Power button to enter recovery mode. Release the buttons at the same time after few seconds.

Step 3 – The screen will flicker and then you will enter the recovery mode of your Xperia phone.

Step 4 – Use the Volume Up and Volume Down key to navigate through the menu and Power button to select the option.

Step 5 – To go back to the Android OS, just select the Reboot System Now option from the recovery mode menu.

HTC Devices:

Procedure for entering HTC device’s recovery mode via the button combination method is as follows.

Step 1 – Make sure your phone is powered on and you have navigated to the home screen.

Step 2 – Start by holding Power and Volume Down button for 15 – 20 seconds.

Step 3 – After a you see the screen go black, let go of the Power key.

Step 4 – Keep holding Volume Down until you see a bunch of text on screen after which you can let go.

Step 5 – From here, there should be a large text at the very top of the screen giving you boot options. You can use Volume keys to scroll down and up. From this menu, browse till you see Reboot to Recovery.

Step 6 – Press Power key once to select it reboot to recovery.

Step 7 – Now, your phone should reboot and there should be a warning icon on screen. From here, just press Volume Up key and Power key together once to view recovery options.

Motorola Devices:

Moto phones can boot into recovery partition using the following button combination process.

Step 1 – Turn OFF your phone.

Step 2 – Now press and hold the Volume Down button for 2-5 seconds. While holding the Volume Down button, press the Power Button for 1-2 seconds and release.

Step 3 –  After you let go of the buttons, you would see the Fastboot menu pop up. From this menu, scroll downwards to Recovery and select it. Scrolling is done via the Volume Down and Volume Up buttons. Whereas Home button acts as a select/click button.

OPPO Devices:

Following procedure would grant Oppo users access to the recovery partition on their phones.

Step 1 – Power off your device.

Step 2 – Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons, until your phone enters Recovery Mode.

That’s it, your phone should now have booted into the recovery partition.

Vivo Phones

Here are the steps if you want to enter recovery mode on Vivo devices.

Step 1 – Power off your phone.

Step 2 – While the phone is off, press and hold Power button and Volume up button simultaneously until Vivo logo appears to enter Fastboot mode.

Step 3 – From here, Select Recovery mode by pressing Volume down button and enter it by pressing Power button.

Method 2: Enter Recovery Mode with ADB from a Computer

This is another method how you can enter recovery mode on your phone. You can use this method when you do not know the direct key combination or don’t have root access to easily enter recovery mode using the app mentioned next.

Step 1 – Make sure ADB and Fastboot is configured on your PC. How? See here: How to Set Up ADB and Fastboot with Android SDK. This is important.

NOTE: If you do not want to set up the entire Android SDK, you can also download the Android SDK Platform-Tools.

Step 2 – Connect your Android device to your PC with a USB cable and install ADB drivers (if needed).

Step 3 – Navigate to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory and open Command Prompt (Shift + Right-click anywhere in the folder > Open Command Prompt).

Step 4 – Type in the following command and press Enter.

adb reboot recovery

Step 5 – Your Android device will turn OFF and then boot into the recovery mode. Navigate up and down using the volume keys.

Method 3: Boot into Recovery Mode with BootDroid App (Requires Root)

We will be following the app method below for quickly accessing the recovery mode. It is really simple and hardly involves any steps other than installing the required app on your phone.

NOTE: This app requires root access. Do not install if you do not know what is root access. If you do not have root access, read below for method 2.

Step 1 – Download Boot Droid from Google Play Store and install it.

Step 2 – Open the app, you will see 4 options: Recovery, Bootloader, Restart, Shutdown.

Step 3 – Just tap on ‘Recovery’ and you phone will reboot into Recovery Mode automatically.